M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman was a medium tank that was used by the United States, Great Britain and other Allied nations, during World War II http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/vehiclesarmor/p/M4Sherman.htm and saw the developments of different M4 variants. Description The first M4 Tank production had an armament consisting of a 75 mm gun, two 7.62 mm Browning M1919s, one mounted coaxially and one in the bow, and a 12.7 mm Browning M2HB on top of the turret. It has armor angled at 57 degrees with Driver and co-driver ports visible. It was about 5.84 meters long and weighed about 33 tons. The M4 Sherman was widely used by the Allies and some that were captured were even used by the Axis powers. It only has a crew of five and had a vareity of Engines like the Continental R975 Radial Engine, the GM6046 and the GAA V8 Ford that was capable of propelling the Sherman at speeds of up from 42 to 48 km/h. Among the crew was the Tank Commander, Loader, Gunner, Co-Driver and the Driver.http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=40 The Sherman also had a vertical volute suspension system and 5 speed forward, 1 speed reverse transmission, it's upgraded version, the Horizontal Volume Suspension, gives more smoother rides on cross-country with Grousers, Alternate Tracks and Extended End-Connectors. About 49.234 Shermans were manufactured during the war. Variants The M4's have a vareity of different variants seen throughout different Theatres due to it's strongest perks for being the most versatile Tank of the War. Be it an Up-Gunned Tank, an Asaault Tank, A Tank Destroyer, An Armored Self-Propelled Gun, a Mine Flayer, an Amphibious Vehicle or an Armored Recovery Vehicle. The first Shermans used in combat in WW2 was the M4A1, used by the British during the Second Battle of El Alamein. That Battle ended with a British Victory, although, there were losses on both sides. The M4A1 features a cast hull with it's Frontal hull in a curved shape. The Second Variant, the M4A2. It was a Sherman with a GM6046 Diesel Engine and early M4A2 have 57 degrees Frontal Armor with Driver and Co-Driver Ports visible. It was not used by the US Army but saw use within the US Marine Corps during the Pacific Theatre and it was also sent to the Eastern Front to assist Soviet forces http://www.wwiivehicles.com/usa/tanks-medium/m4a2.asp and many saw use within the Red Army Guard Units. The late M4A2 have 47 degrees angle on it's Frontal hull but the engine remains the same due to the Soviets heavily relied on Diesel fuel. The third variant, the M4A3, it only has a 47 degrees angle on the frontal hull and equipped with the latest Ford GAA V8 Engine that provides 450-500 Horsepower and was only widely used by the United States Army and some within the Marine Corps. It had first to be equipped with 75mm Guns until the first M4A3 76mm appeared in Operation Cobra around July 1944 during the Normandy Campaign. With the Horizontal Volute Suspension System entered the M4 Production, these Tanks Hulls, regardless if it's M4A1, M4A2 and M4A3, were fitted out with these suspensions became known as E8's, otherwise known as the "Easy Eight". The M4A3 Sherman also had a subvariant, an Assault Tank called the M3A3E2 or it's postwar given nickname "Jumbo", which had thicker armor and a revised turret, their role is to break though heavy enemy Fortifications and able to withstand 88mm KwK 38 Guns used by the German Wehrmacht, only 254 were produced and entered the European Theatre by September 1944. One M4A3E2 known as the "Cobra King" became famous for reaching the besieged US Forces in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. It's combat performance by the US Army were regarded as "highly successful" and General Patton demanded more E2 Shermans for his Troops, however, since he forbids Sandbags and Wooden Logs that provides no effective protection, he ordered the engineers to modify over 200 ordinary Shermans into makeshift E2's by welding extra armor salvaged from wrecked Tanks or from other Shermans in reserves. These Field Modifications provided extra protection and an additional boost morale amongst the American Tankers, one famous example like M4A3 76(w) HVSS "Thunderbolt VII" under the command of Colonel Creighton Abrams for featuring a well-protected Sherman with additional armor and hollowed armor welded on the sides that provides protection from German Anti-Tank Rockets. The fourth variant, M4A4 Sherman was once fitted with a Caterpillar D200A and changed to Chrysler A-57 engine which ran on gasoline and its armor had a thickness of 51mm and angled at 57 degrees, giving about 60mm of relative Thickness. Its weight was around 34 tons and it had a length of about 6.5 meters. These Tanks were produced by Chrysler. It was never used by the US Army in Frontline Combat and were used as Training Tanks, however, these Tanks became Lend-Lease vehicles for the British under "Sherman V", which they deem it as a reliable Tank. By 1944, before D-Day, the M4 Lend-Lease Tanks, including M4A4'a were fitted out with 17-Pounder Guns that provides great penetrative performance in longer distance against thicker German Armor once the British Intelligence were well aware of the presence of a significant numbers of German Heavy Tanks deployed on Normandy. These became the "Sherman Firefly" or known as "Sherman VC", "C" in British nomenclature meant that these Tanks were outfitted with a QF 17-Pounder Guns. The fifth variant, M4A5 was actually a Canadian tank known as the Ram, and there was only a small number of M4A6 tanks Armaments and Crew Survivabilitybuilt and they were not used in combat. The M4A1 Sherman itself even had a Canadian variant that was called the Grizzly I Cruiser Tank. It had a number of modifications differentiating it. Including increased armor protection. It's TAnn Destroyer Variant, the M36B1, is a Sherman turned into a designated Tank Destroyer and armed with a 90mm Gun. Due to the lack of Hulls produced for the M36 Jackson. The US Tank Destroyer Branch needed much Tank Destroyers as possible to destroy the presence of any Heavy German Armor at the Siegfried Line, they chose the M4A3 Hulls before adding the Jackson Turret, these Armored Vehicles saw combat around October 1944 up until the War's end in Europe. The T34 Calliope is a Sherman armed with 114mm M8 Rockets attached to the turret and has 60 tubes to containing fin stabilized rockets. It's main purpose role was a Multi-Launcher Rocket Artillery that were meant to take out entrenched infantry, Fortifications and other soft targets. The M4 "Rhino", during the Normandy Campaign when the Americans Soldiers were experiencing difficulties to cross the French Bocage and running into German Ambush, the Allied Engineers devised a plan to weld Steel Blades that salvaged the Czech Hedgehogs from the Beaches before attaching them in front on to the Sherman's transmission compartments, the result of this invention provides successful performance of eliminating the Bocage blocking their way by charging head-in first alongside with it's friendly Armored Force. This device was also used by the British and played a crucial role in the Normandy Campaign such as Operation Goodwoood and Operation Cobra. The M4 105mm Howitzer, an Armored Mid-Ranged Artillery, it takes mainly an artillery role in order to take out Enemy Fortifications and Entrenched Infantry with it's much more superior High Explosive capabilities than the M3 75mm Guns. The Sherman "Dozer", A Sherman Tank with a Dozer attached on it's chassis, meant for removing wreckage and debris from the roads . The M4 Sherman "Crocodile", a Flametbrower Sherman meant for disabling Enemy Trenches and Fortifications alike. It saw use in the Pacific Theatre by the Marine Corps to take out dug-in Japanese soldiers. M32 Sherman, a recovery vehicle to tow disabled Tanks and wreckage. Armaments and Ammunition M3 75mm L/40: '''It was the first and the most common main armaments for the M4 Sherman when it was first produced in 1943. A medium-velocity gun that has excellent High-Explosive Capabilities against entrenched infantry and Fortifications and has decent armor penetration against Panzer IV's and other soft targets at ranges. However, while the High-Explosive remained satisfactory by 1944, the Tankers began to experience issues with the 75mm engaging enemies at longer distances while encountering newer German Tanks produced since 1943, under the Allied nomenclature, the German Mk.V Medium Tank or otherwise known as the "Panther". But that isn't the case at the Battle of Arracourt, where oldtype M4's and M18 Tank Destroyers in inferior numbers fighting against their numerical superior German opponents and managed to disable 86 Panthers while on the Defensive, which means that the 75mm were only put into good use and to counter heavy German Tanks is that M4's will have to distract them using smoke rounds to blind their line of sight before taking them out by shooting at their vulnerable side areas or continuos fire until the enemy Tank Commander and the crew surrenders. The 75mm has four different types of Shell Ammunitions: '''Armor Piercing Solid Shot M72: A simple shell that can penetrate up to 102mm of Rolled Homogenous Armor at 250 Meters at 0 degrees. These Shells were mostly used as training rounds but other cases that such Shells were used in the Frontlines. Armor Piercing Ballistic Cap M61: A Capped Shell designed to defeat Face Hardened Armor and has a penetration of 82mm of FHA at 1250 meters at 0 Degrees, originally, these Shells were produced with explosive filler that provides weakening the surface of the armor but when the Tankers first received them were inferior Rounds that lacked explosive fillers. However, these rounds were inferior against late-Panzer IV's that used Hulls with RHA but the turret remained the same FHA materials. White Phosphorus Round, M64: A type of shell that produced white smoke of hot burning substance of White Phosphorus, intended to mark for Artillery strikes. Other used it to knock out German Tanks as hot substances produced by the smoke may leak into the engine compartments may cause fires on their unprotected fuel storage, other cases might leak into the Tank Turret through the ventilations before suffocating or burning the skins of the Germans Tank Crew, resulting a knock-out when the Crew surrenders. High-Explosive, M48: A High Explosive Shell. Effectively used against Bunkers and Machinegun nests. M1 76mm: As early as 1942, the US Army Ordnance fitted an M4 Sherman with a 76.2mm Gun. The Gun Prototype is originally 57 Calibers long and rivaled that to a 17-Pounded, however, the project was abandoned due to the issues with the lack balance of the weight and the small turret. However, the Project revived once more by 1943 by using lightweight materials and fixing the issues with the weight and balance was fixed when they found that the T23 Turret was the solution and cut the the original 57 Calibers to 52 Calibers, the drawback of this 52 caliber Gun saw the decrease of velocity and distance. Before D-Day, a significant numbers of American 76mm Shermans were produced and stationed on the British Home Islands. The US Army didn't see any use of them whilst the Tankers choose the 75mm Guns until after the Normandy landings, while sustaining heavy casualties by Land mines, Anti-Tank Ditches and typical German Panzergrenadiers, they've suddenly engaged in a numbers of Panthers, well-Armored Tank Destroyers like the StuG III's, 7.5cm and 88mm Anti-Tank Guns Towed by German Infantry and disabling Allied Armor at longer distances. It was this time that the American Forces in Normandy called for the 76mm Shermans to engage their German opponents at long-range combat in Operation Cobra. The 76mm M1 Gun has five different type of shells: Armor Piercing Shot, M79: An experimental solid round, maximum penetration 154mm of RHA at 100 meters, although, inferior armor performance at longer ranges due to the lack of windscreen or penetration cap. Armor Piercing Capped, M62: An Armor Piercing Capped Shell, but shares a familiar design of an APCBC. Superior to the M79 AP at longer ranges and achieved 105mm of penetration against FHA at 1750 Meters and 101mm of RHA at 1250 meters. Smoke Round, M88: Use to mark targets for Artillery fire. High-Explosive, M42A1: A High-Explosive Shell but inferior to the 75mm M48 Shell due to issues of the shell design. High Velocity Armor Piercing, M93: A shell that contains an Tungsten core and encased within an aluminum shell that increased flight and range. This shell has armor penetration of 108mm at 2500 Meters at 0 degrees. This round matches the Panthers 7.5cm KwK 40 Guns using APCR. They were used on the frontline battles but the Tank Destroyers were the first ones to receive by July 1944 for the 3-Inch Guns and weren't compatible for the M1 76mm. The newer T4 Shell was refined. The M93 Ammunition came into production by 1944 and were finally introduced to the Armored Force by September 1944, the first ones that received such Ammunition were 2nd Armored Division and the 761st Tank Battalion, although, the production is limited due to Tungsten shortage and Tankers have to carry up from 3-5 rounds. 105mm Howitzer: Sherman armed with a stubby-looking Gun, in fact that the 105mm Howitzer provided superior HE Capabilities than the 75mm and takes it's role as a Mid-Ranged Armored Artillery to take out heavy enemy fortifications such as gun nests and Bunkers. It has two different types of Shells: HE and HEAT. Crew Survivability Early Shermans produced since 1942 has an 81% Chance to burst into flames like any other Tanks during the Conflict that has the same problem. When the US Army personnel began investigate to eliminate the problem, they found out that improper placements of ammunition in the sponsons and on the turret basket were the real culprit of cause instead of the rumored "Fuel Fires" when Fuel Storage were found still intact in a burned out Sherman. The Army created the Wet Storage under the nomenclature (W), the Shermans were fitted with Wet Stowage when Army Engineers removed the Shell Ammunition from the Sponsons and the Turret Baskets, then placing them underneath the Loader and filled the storage with glycerine and cooled liquid in order to prevent fires if an Anti-Tank shell or a shell fragments manage to penetrate it through. Along with welded Up-Armored Assault Kits, the results of these improvements makes the Sherman as the most survivable armored combat vehicle from late-1943 to the War's end. The Armored Force suffered over than 6.000 Casualties on every Theatre. Out of 6.000, only 1.398 US Tankers died over the course of the War. Noticeable Equipments All-Around Vision Cupolas: Early Shermans have turrets with single hatches for the Driver, Co-Driver and Commander but lacked a hatch for the Loader. It features one rotating periscope on the Commanders hatch but it provides unreliable field of vision. With the development of the T23 Turret, this changed when the Army Ordnance designed a turret with the loaders hatch and a new Commanders Cupola with 6 vision blocks and a periscope added for the turret that provided good all-around field of vision. Better than the German Tank's Field of Vision upon fighting within Sub-Urban and Urban combat. One-Axis Gun Gyrostabilizer System: This feature was seen in early American Tanks like the Stuart's and M3 Lee's used on the 37mm Guns. However, a newer Stabilizer was made for the medium-caliber M3 75mm in which no other operational Tanks from other Nations were equipped with that. The Stabilizers only features that it provides stabilization of the gun while on the move and keep their targets on sight, it can also help the gun to fire accurately while on the move at 15-20mp/h as demonstrated by the Canadians Sherman Tankers in training who were used to use the Stabilizers. Early in the War, US Tankers have little-to-no experience using the Stabilizers due to the complexity of the device. However, Veteran Tankers coming back from North Africa and Italy provides instructions for the Tankers in training and much more improved and simpler Stabilizers were also developed and used in combat. These devices were powered both Hydraulically and Electric. Alternate Tracks: While M4 Sherman doesn't have any issues on road, it might have problems to go around on soft mud and swampy terrains. But these issues were fixed when the Tankers were provided with End-Connectors and Duckbills made of chevrons to provide stabilization of flotation, Grousers and Platypus Grouser Tracks became available and were also capable to climb up at steeper grades. The much more improved suspensions like HVSS excelled these but with much more better flotation and smoother rides on cross-roads. SCR Radios: The Shermans used a vareity of SCR Radios and all of them were FM Band Radios, it's first radio, the SCR-508 has a BC-605 Radio Transmitter and two BC-603 mounted on an FT-237 Mounting Tray, it is more superior to the Germans short-distance, one-way AM Radio's. The SCR-508 has BC-606 Interphone Control Boxes that was mainly used for Platoon Leaders and Overall Company Tank Commanders. Armored Doctrine and Platoon Organization The Armored Doctrine stated in Field Manual 100-5, Operations: The armored division is organized primarily to perform missions that require great mobility and firepower. It is given decisive missions. It is capable of engaging in all forms of combat, but its primary role is in offensive operations against hostile rear areas. There was a misconception regarding the myth that the M4 Sherman was believed to used as a primary Infantry Tank and not meant against Enemy Tank, in truth it wasn't and the Field Manual didn't stated that they shouldn't engage Enemy Armor. Furthermore, in Field Manual 17-33 Tank Battalion, Light and Medium published in September 1942 to describe fighting enemy Tanks was one of the necessary primary roles. The M4 Sherman only serves as the Striking Echelon that was meant against all forms and types of enemies, enemy weapons and armored vehicles it was facing once a breakthrough was made in the enemy lines and have to fight through up into the hostile rear areas while the Infantry serves for the supporting echelons to protect firendly armor from enemies in all forms and types. The smallest Tank Unit within the US Army during WW2 was a platoon consists of only five Tanks, like any other Nations like Great Britain and Germany. History * The M4 Sherman tank was used throughout World War II on almost every front. The T-34 was the only tank that beat the M4 Sherman's production numbers. The M4 Sherman was used in crucial battles such as El Alamein, Tarawa, Saipan, Operation Cobra, Operation Goodwood, Battle of Arracourt and the Battle of the Bulge. Unfortunately for Sherman crews, German Anti-Tank Infantry such as the Panzergrenadiers armed with Anti-Tank Rockets, Satchel Charges, Towed Guns, Dangerous obstacles like Landmines, Deep Anti-Tank Ditches and German tanks such as the Tiger and the Panther proved to be the very dangerous threat. But the ones that inflicted the massive material losses against the M4 Sherman were mostly done by Infantry Panzergrenadiers and Landmines. The M4 Sherman was also used in the Pacific Theater where it fought against Japanese tanks such as the Type 97 Chi-Ha. In this area of operations, the Shermans were better than the Chi-Ha due to the Sherman's armor was thicker than the Chi-Ha, and the M4 Sherman also had better firepower. A large number of M4s and other types of Shermans were given to other Allied Nations including Great Britain, France and Belgium through the Lend Lease Program.http://ww2total.com/WW2/Weapons/Vehicles/Tanks/US/Sherman/-tank/M4-Sherman.htm References * The name "Ronson" was a Nickname referred to the sole Flamethrowing Sherman Tank. The Nickname was not widely used by the US Army, except for the crew who named their Flamethrowing Tank. The "Ronson" slogan was a popular Cigarette Commercial during pre-War and post-War, but was not named by the Troops until decades later after the War. * The name "Tommy Cooker" given by the Germans were referred to the British Tanks and other Lend-Lease vehicles in general. "Tommy" was a nickname to the British Soldiers and it's origins of the name traced back to the First World War. In some cases, British Tankers have a habit to overload their ammunition capacity which increases the chances of fires. * There was a misconception that the name "Sherman" was used during the War. However, it was a Post-War given nickname by the British under the name "General Sherman". The US Army during the War only referred them as "M4" or "M4 Mediums". * Source: Hunnicutt R.P., Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank * Source: Zaloga, Armored Thunderbolt: The US Army Sherman during WW II * Source: Nicholas Moran, "Myths of American Armor" * Source: TankArchives.com * Source: The Sherman Tank site Note: The slogan "Ronson" was not used for the M4 Sherman until it saw a wide commercial use in the 1950's. Note: The infamous nickname "Tommy Cookers" named by the Germans were referred to British Armor and Lend-Lease Tanks in general. Some Tankers has a tendency to overload their ammunition capacity which increase the chances of fires. Source: Zaloga, Armored Thunderbolt: The US Army Sherman of WW II Source: Hunnicutt R.P, Sherman: A history of the American Medium Tank Source: Nicholas Moran, Myth of American Armor Source: The Sherman Tank site Source: TankArchives.com Category:US Vehicles Category:Tanks Category:British Vehicles Category:US Tanks Category:Medium Tanks Category:M4 Medium Tank Category:Vehicles Category:M4 Sherman